Cabinet



Oct. 9, 1945. H DERMAN 2,386,664

CABINET Filed Oct. 22, 1943 Z BY 6 W%8RNEY Patented Oct. 9, 1945 UNITED STATES FATENT OFFICE CABINET V Harry Derman, Great Neck, NY.

Application October 22, 1943, Serial No. 507,236

9 Claims. (01. 160-201) This invention relates to collapsible cabinets such as commonly composed of corrugated and fibre board reinforced by wood strips. More particularly, the invention relates to cabinets of this kind employing a combination pull-out and sliding: door construction, wherein the door or door parts may be kept within boundaries of side walls of the cabinet, thereby adapting the cabinet for arrangement in restricted places, particularly with respect to the side walls of the cabinet. The novel features of the invention will be best understood from the following description when taken together with the accompanying drawing, in which certain embodiments of the invention are disclosed, and in which the separate parts are designated by suitable reference characters in. each of the views and in which:

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic front view of a cabinet illustrating one adaptation of the invention.

Fig. 2 is a partial section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1 indicating the door structure in. open position and in dotted lines.

Fig. 3 is a partial section on the line 33 of Fig. 1 on an enlarged scale.

Fig. 4 is a partial section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1 on an enlarged scale.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view through the top wallportion of the cabinet showing part. of the door structure in elevation, the section being substantially on the line 55 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 2 showing another adaptation of the invention and illustrating the door structure in two different positions, one in dotted lines and one in dot and dash lines; and

Fig. 7 is a perspective detailed sectional View illustrating the lower portions of the door structure when in the dotted line position of Fig. 6.

The collapsible cabinets in question are well known in the art and may be made, for example, according to the teachings in my prior Patent 2,244,679 of June 10, 1941.

The invention deals primarily with thedoor frame and door construction of cabinets of the kind under consideration and for this reason no details of the construction of the cabinet walls is shown, except that part of these walls are illustrated in some of the views. In the present illustration, the invention is shown as applied to what might be termed a door frame unit insertable, as shown, in the other Walls of the cabinet.

The'unit comprises top and bottom rails It and? joined by vertical side rails I2 and [3, which are. grooved on their outer edges to receive inturned flanges or wall. portions I4 on the side, Walls I5 of a collapsible cabinet. In referring to collapsible cabinets, the side walls I5 are fold able and collapsible upon the back wall, as is well known in this art.

The rails I2 and I3 fit in notches on inner surfaces of the top and bottom rails It! and II in order that the flanges or wall portions It will rest upon inner surfaces of the top and bottom rails. A supplemental vertical rail It is mounted upon the rail I2 and extends between the top and bottom rails I9 and II to form a door stop.

Secured to inner surfaces of the top and bottom rails I0 and II are stop or check strips II, which extend between the vertical rails I2 and I3 and project into the door opening beyond the inner surfaces of the rails It and I I, as will clearly appear from a consideration of Fig. 3 of the drawing. Inner opposed surfaces of the rails I0 and Il are provided with grooves I8 forming channels for guiding pins I9 in the movement of a door-unit 24) into open and closed positions.

The unit 28 comprises side vertical strips 2|, 22 channeled on inner surfaces to receive edge portions of a corrugated or other paper board panel 23', the central'portion of which is scored to form afold, as at 24, note Fig. 4. Secured to the centralportion of the panel 23, at one end of the fo-ld'24', is another vertical strip 25. All of the strips 2|, 22 and 25 fit snugly but freely between inner'surfaces of the top and bottom rails I6 and II and when the door unit is inclosed positionouter surfaces of these strips are flush withouter surfaces of the rails I0 and II, as will clearly appear from a consideration of Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawing. The strip 2 I includes a supplemental half-round or beaded strip 26, which projects beyond the outer edge of the strip 2 I to overlie the verticalirail I6 and form a further checklimiting closing movement of the door, as well. as to form a seal between adjacent abutting surfaces of the strip I6 and strip 2|,as will appear from a consideration of Fig. 5 of the drawing. The pins I9 arese'cured to upper and lower ends of the strips 2| and project therefrom to extend into the grooves I8. Similar pins 2! are secured to the upper and lower ends of the strip 22 and extend into the rails It and II or blocks 28 secured in the grooved portions of these rails to form fixed pivot mountings for the strip side 22 of the door.

The fold 24 forms what may be well termed a hinge coupling between two door sections or panels. 29 and 30 formed from the sheet 20, as willbe apparent. On the strip 25, slightly above the vertical center thereof, is an outwardly pro- J'ecting, handle portion 3|, by means of which the door unit may be opened by pulling outwardly on this handle, which operation will result in the sliding movement of the pins l9 longitudinally of the grooves l8 bringing the door sections or panels 29 and 30 into the collapsed position, as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 2. By pushing inwardly upon the handle member, the doors may be returned to their extended and closed position, as shown in full lines in Figs. 1 and 2. Other blocks 32 are arranged at the opposite ends of the grooves or channels l8 simply to close these ends, sufificient clearance being allowed for the pins l9, so that the strip 2| is free to move into abutting engagement with the strip 16.

In Figs. 6 and '7 of the drawing is shown a slight modification of the invention which differs primarily from the structure shown in Figs. 1-5 r in dispensing with the fixed pivot end, as at 21.

In other words, in Fig. 6 both side rail or strip.

portions of the door frame will be the same and willcomprise the inner grooved strips 33 similar to the strip l2 and outer stop strips 34 similar to the strip IS. The side strips 35 of the door unit will be similar to the strip 2| and the projecting pins 36 of the strips will extend into and be free to rotate in shoes 31 arranged in the grooves or guide channels of the upper and lower rails, the lower rail 38 only being shown and the groove or channel is'illustrated at 39 in Fig. 7 of the drawing. The shoes 31 are free to slide in the grooves 39 and provide supports which will maintain the door unit in proper position in the cabinet. With this construction, the outward pull on the door, by grasping the handle 40 on the center strip 4|, similar to the handle 3| and strip 25 respectively, will cause the end strips 35 to be drawn together at the central portion of the cabinet in the manner indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 6 of the drawing. If access is desirable to either side of the cabinet only, the door unit may be retained in this position. However, if

access is desired to the full door opening, the unit in its folded or collapsed position may be moved to either the right or left side of the cabinet. Such a position is indicated in dot and dash lines at the right side of the cabinet as viewed in Fig. 6.

For purposes of identification, the door unit of Fig. 6 will be designated by the reference 42 and aside from the specific description above, this unit is the same as the door unit composed of the strips 2|, 22, 25 and the panel portion forming the respective door panels 29 and 30.

It will be understood that, in the present illustration, a simple adaptation of the invention is disclosed and this particularly from the door unit construction in the use of the single'corrugated or fibre board panel in making up what amounts to hingedly coupled door sections. The advantage of this construction, in addition to its simplicity, resides in the fact that the folded hinge construction produces a better seal-for the cabinet than would conventional hinge mountings. However, in other adaptations of the invention, other types of hinge mountings may be employed.

In both forms of construction, it will appear that the door units, when in open position, are retained within the limits of the side walls of the cabinet. This will enable the mounting of the cabinet between closely arranged boundary walls of a compartment in which the cabinet is arranged. In other words, a cabinet of this type and kind may be conveniently arranged within an ordinary clothes closet to provide means for protecting clothes hung in the cabinet against.

dust and also to protect the same from moths. A construction of the type and kind under consideration, can be practically used in the rear porton of a closet without material interference with other clothes which might be hung in the front of the cabinet. This would be impossible with other types of swinging door cabinets.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A door construction for collapsible cabinets, having vertically spaced rails forming boundaries of a door opening in the front of the cabinet, said rails having grooves on the inner surfaces thereof, a door unit for controlling the opening of said cabinet, said unit comprising a pair of hingedly of said door sections having pins extending into the grooves of said rails in guiding said edge of the door section longitudinally of the rails in the movement of the section to open and close the door, said door sections being formed of a single sheet of material folded substantially centrally thereof to form the hinge coupling between said sections, and a reinforcing strip extending longitudinally of the fold of said sheet and secured to one of the sections adjacent said hinge fold.

2. In collapsible cabinets having a front door opening bordered at upper and lower ends by grooved rails, a door unit for controlling said opening, said unit comprising hingedly coupled side sections, the free edge portions of the door sections having means for pivotally and slidably mounting the same in the grooves of said rails, and said means comprising shoes slidably engaging the grooved rails and pins on the door sec- .tions and engaging said shoes.

3. A door construction for knockdown cabinets of the class described, the cabinet having at the front portion a door opening bordered by vertical and horizontal rails, the door comprising a single sheet of corrugated paper folded centrally and longitudinally to divide the sheet into substantially similar door sections hingedly coupled at the fold in said sheet, free side edges ofrails and, keyed thereto in outward bodily movement of both of said door sections in moving the same into open position;

4. A door construction for knockdown cabinets of the class described, the cabinet having at the front portion a door opening bordered by verticaland horizontal rails, the door comprising a single sheet of corrugated paper folded centrally and longitudinally to divide the sheet .into substantially similar door sections hingedly coupled at the fold in said sheet, free side edges of the sheet having reinforcing strips extending the full length thereof, each of said strips having means at upper and lower ends forming pivotalmountings in connection with said horizontalrailasaid means of at least one of said strips being movable longitudinally of said horizontal rails and keyed thereto in outward bodily movement of both of said door sections ''in moving thesame" into open position, and another reinforcing strip secured toone of the sections adjacent the hinge fold of "said sheet and overlapping the fold to extend onto the other section.

5. A door construction for knockdown cabinets of the class described, the cabinet having at the front portion a, door opening bordered by vertical and horizontal rails, the door comprising a single sheet of corrugated paper folded centrally and longitudinally to divide the sheet into substa tially similar door sections hingedly coupled at the fold in said sheet, free side edges of the sheet having reinforcing strips extending the full length thereof, each of said strips having means at upper and lower ends forming pivotal mountings in connection with said horizontal rails, said means of at least one of said strips being movable longitudinally of said horizontal rails and keyed thereto in outward bodily movement of both of said door sections in moving the same into open position, another reinforcing strip secured to one of the sections adjacent the hinge fold of said sheet and overlapping the fold to extend onto the other section, means checking closing movement of the door sections, and said movable strip having a projecting flange portion overlapping the corresponding vertical rail of the cabinet when the doors are in closed position.

6. A pull-out door unit for knockdown cabinets of the class described, said unit comprising an elongated sheet of corrugated paper folded centrally and longitudinally to divide the sheet into two door sections, and means at upper and lower ends of the free edge portions only of said sections forming the sole means of coupling the door unit with the cabinet.

'7. A pull-out door unit for knockdown cabinets of the class described, said unit comprising an elongated sheet of corrugated paper folded centrally and longitudinally to divide the sheet into two door sections, means at upper and lower ends of the free edge portions only of said sections forming the sole means of coupling the door unit with the cabinet, and means extending longitudinally of the fold of said sheet for reinforcing the hinge portion of said door sections.

8. A door construction for collapsible cabinets, said cabinet having vertically spaced rails forming boundaries of a door opening in the front of the cabinet, said rails having grooves on the inner surfaces thereof, a door unit for controlling the opening of said cabinet, said unit comprising a single sheet of material forming a pair of hingedly and collapsibly connected door sections movable toward and from the door opening in controlling the opening of the cabinet, and the free edge portion of at least one of said door sections having pins extending upwardly and downwardly into the grooves of said vertically spaced rails in guiding said edge of the door section longitudinally of the rails in the movement of thesection to open and close the door.

9. In collapsible cabinets employing collapsible wall parts, which when assembled, form a front door opening, a collapsible door unit for controlling said opening, said unit comprising a single sheet of material foldable centrally and longitudinally in collapsing said unit and in forming two door sections thereof, the free edge portion of each door section having upwardly and downwardly projecting pivots, and said pivots providing pivotal and slidable mounting of the door sections in the cabinet in controlling said door opening.

HARRY HERMAN. 

